Was that an excerpt from something I can buy, or was it written just for this column? The last Magic related literature I read was during Ice Age, and it was slightly... lacking, but this was excellent.
I just proved beyong any doubt that your wording was wrong yet you insist to keep your flawed wording? You are by far the most horrible designer on this forum. Even Bankai would admit he's wrong when faced with such beyond-doubt proof. And that's saying something. You will have cards in your set. That are worded wrong. And you know they're worded wrong. Just because you won't admit you were wrong even though you and everyone else know you are wrong. Wow, just wow. Unbelievable.
Amazing short story, possibly the best I've ever read on this site. The character of Eliza is fascinating : she appears very sympathetic compared to the rest of Grixis' lords, yet she is obviously very black. I love how she combines black and red magic to animate a dragon skeleton with fire in place of flesh. That would be a really cool creature card to design... Imagine the type line : Creature - Elemental Skeleton Dragon !
That single story makes me like Grixis a lot more. Mission accomplished, Doug !
Kevin]How does Green's flavor of plants, animals, instinct, growth, predator-prey, etc., fit in with Angels? My inner Vorthos is scratching his head at how any Angel could possibly connect with "Mother Nature" enough to warrant having "G" in their casting cost.
It almost seems like the "G" was shoehorned in because "there's Green mana in Bant so the big creatures designed to represent it must include 'G' in their casting cost." I know this can't be the case though, as the people involved in creating Shards of Alara are far too talented for that. Can you shed some light on this for me?
Of course that can be the case, Kevin. While Doug provided a good explanation of the flavor of green in Bant's angels, it was only a justification. The reason why the angels are green is because they mechanically had to be, as you stated, and then Creative had to found a way to have it make sense. That said, they did that quite well. They at least did it better than with a number of other tri-color creatures in the set that have one or two mana symbols shoehorned. I don't mind too much, it's just that it would be hypocrit to hide tha wrote:
How does Green's flavor of plants, animals, instinct, growth, predator-prey, etc., fit in with Angels? My inner Vorthos is scratching his head at how any Angel could possibly connect with "Mother Nature" enough to warrant having "G" in their casting cost.
It almost seems like the "G" was shoehorned in because "there's Green mana in Bant so the big creatures designed to represent it must include 'G' in their casting cost." I know this can't be the case though, as the people involved in creating Shards of Alara are far too talented for that. Can you shed some light on this for me?[/quote] Of course that can be the case, Kevin. While Doug provided a good explanation of the flavor of green in Bant's angels, it was only a justification. The reason why the angels are green is because they mechanically had to be, as you stated, and then Creative had to found a way to have it make sense. That said, they did that quite well. They at least did it better than with a number of other tri-color creatures in the set that have one or two mana symbols shoehorned. I don't mind too much, it's just that it would be hypocrit to hide that fact.
Magic The Gathering DCI Rules Advisor Don't hesitate to post rules question in the Rules Q&A forum for me and other competent advisors to answer : http://community.wizards.com/go/forum/view/75842/134778/Rules_Q38A
For linking a card to Gatherer without writting the name of said card for readers, use the autocard brackets together with and equal sign and right the name of the real card. Then put the message you want inside the tags, like you would do with autocarding. Like this:
I like storm crow because I really like crows in real life, as an animal, and the card isn't terribly stupid, but packs a good deal of nostalgia and also a chunck of the game's history. So it's perhaps one of the cards I have most affection to, but not because "lol storm crow is bad hurr hurr durr".
Although I do assume you deliberately refer to them (DCI) as The Grand Imperial Convocation of Evil just for the purposes of making them sound like an ancient and terrible conspiracy.
Now, now. 1994 doesn't quite qualify as "ancient".
Oh, it's a brilliant plan. You see, Bolas was travelling through shadowmoor, causing trouble, when he saw a Wickerbough Elder with its stylin' dead scarecrow hat. Now, Bolas being Bolas took the awesome hat and he put it on his head, but even with all his titanic powers of magic he couldn't make it fit. He grabbed some more scarecrows, but then a little kithkin girl asked if he was trying to build a toupee. "BY ALL THE POWERS IN THE MULTIVERSE!" he roared, "I WILL HAVE A HAT WORTHY OF MY GLORY." and so he went through his Dark Lore of Doom (tm) looking for something he could make into a hat that would look as stylish on him as a scarecrow does on a treefolk. He thought about the Phyrexians, but they were covered in goopy oil that would make his nonexistant hair greasy. He Tried out angels for a while but they didn't sit quite right. Then, he looked under "e" (because in the Elder Draconic alphabet, "e" for Eldrazi is right next to "h" for Hat) in his Dark Lore of Doom and saw depictions of the Eldrazi, and all their forms. "THIS SHALL BE MY HAT!" he declared, poking a picture of Emrakul, "AND WITH IT I WILL USHER IN A NEW AGE OF DARKNESS -- ER, I MEAN A NEW AGE OF FASHION!"
And so Nicol Bolas masterminded the release of the Eldrazi.
The last couple days have been roughly every perverse fetish imaginable, but it only got "creepy" when speculation on Mother of Runes's mob affiliation came up?
I like to think up what I consider clever names for my decks, only later to be laughed at by my wife. It kills me a little on the inside, but thats what marriage is about.
Of course, the best use [of tolaria west ] is transmuting for the real Tolaria.
Absolutely. I used to loose to my buddy's Banding deck for ages, it was then that I found out about Tolaria , and I was finally able win my first game.
Browbeat is a card that is an appropriate deck choice when there's no better idea available. "No better idea available" was pretty much the running theme of Odyssey era.
Modern is like playing a new tournament every time : you build a deck, you win with it, don't bother keeping it. Just build another, its key pieces will get banned.
I always find it helpful when im angry to dress up in an owl costume and rub pennies all over my body in front of a full body mirror next to the window.
Dymecoar:
Playing Magic without Blue is like sleeping without any sheets or blankets. You can do it...but why?
Omega137:
Me: "I love the moment when a control deck stabilizes. It feels so... right." Omega137: "I like the life drop part until you get there, it's the MtG variant of bungee jumping"
Zigeif777:
Just do it like Yu-Gi-Oh or monkeys: throw all the crap you got at them and hope it works or else the by-standers (or opponents) just get dirty and pissed.
Normally it's difficult to pick up on your jokes/sarcasm. But this one's pretty much out there. Good progress. You have moved up to Humanoid. You'll be Human in no time.
I just proved beyong any doubt that your wording was wrong yet you insist to keep your flawed wording? You are by far the most horrible designer on this forum. Even Bankai would admit he's wrong when faced with such beyond-doubt proof. And that's saying something. You will have cards in your set. That are worded wrong. And you know they're worded wrong. Just because you won't admit you were wrong even though you and everyone else know you are wrong. Wow, just wow. Unbelievable.
I really like these short stories better than the novels. The brief snippets of story match the brief flashes of events that are revealed on the cards. I always thought that when Weatherlight came out, Magic became less interesting. Since Kamigawa, the flavor has definitely moved in a direction that I prefer. A little less focus on the linear narrative and more on the setting and the people.
I remember being moved by the martyred rusalka story but now I can't remember anything specific about it. I'm off to look it up and rediscover it.
Bravo! 
